re:all gip production pre sold-rare metals prices
With the producyion of the A380 RARE METAL PRICES WILL CLIMB-------------- LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Prices of certain rare metals used in aircraft manufacture like cobalt could take off as the superjumbo Airbus A380 is built in the next few years. Aluminium, used extensively in aircraft manufacture as a lithium-aluminium alloy, is in plentiful supply in a market of 30 million tonnes a year.
"In the global market, the amount of aluminium being used (in the new Airbus) is akin to a wart on an elephant's backside. When it comes down to it, it is the high-value metals that will benefit," a metals trader said.
These are typically nickel, cobalt, titanium, tantalum and rhenium.
Nickel is a one million-tonne a year market, while annual cobalt availability is some 40,000 tonnes. But rhenium is perhaps no more than 45 tonnes, traders said.
Other constituents in construction of the airliner will be composites such as Kevlar, a protective fibre used also by fire-fighters and Formula One racing drivers.
The Rolls-Royce (RR.L: Quote, Profile, Research) Trent 900 engine for the new Airbus uses a 60 percent nickel-base super alloy in the turbine blades and is designed to operate at extremes of temperatures.
In a jet engine, cold air enters at the front, is compressed, mixed with fuel and ignited. This drives the turbine blades at the rear. At much higher operating temperatures there is less fuel burn.
"Demand from the super alloy sector is going to be significant for cobalt. (Demand) was around 10,700 tonnes a couple of years ago, but is seen rising to 14,400 tonnes next year," the trader said.
Cobalt (COB-CATH-LON: Quote, Profile, Research) is currently priced around $19.50/lb, but was near $30.00, an eight year high, in March 2004. Rhenium is some $1,300/kg.
With 45 aircraft on firm order, Emirates is the world's largest customer of the A380 aircraft. Emirates' orders for the superjumbo amount to a full third of all orders received by Airbus for the new aircraft, from more than a dozen of the world's airlines.
With a combined value of almost US$15 billion at list price, this is a huge investment by Emirates and an unmistakable sign of its commitment to the product and its belief in it as a key element of its future fleet.
The first critical factor in Emirates huge order is the airline's need today for an aircraft w/ the high capacity/low operating cost combination offered by the A380.
Emirates has embraced the new aircraft more quickly and massively than other carriers because its rate of expansion is much higher than that of most other airlines and is more hobbled by capacity constraints than them. In a nutshell, Emirates wants more A380s because it needs more of them, and the sooner the better.
Over a 20-year history of rapid growth, Emirates has learned that the greatest impediment to its development is not in customer demand but in the number of seats it can offer. The result is an A380 order book that will make Emirates the world's largest operator of the new aircraft for at least the first decade from its launch.
As Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Emirates Group Chairman put it, "The A380 is an ambitious aircraft that meets our ambitious growth strategy. Every single one of the A380s we have ordered has been carefully planned for and supports present and future network needs. It will play a significant part in our expansion in a way that no other aircraft could."
He added: "By 2012 our current 73-strong fleet will more than double in size, while enabling us to carry a lot more than twice the present number of passengers, because the average size of the aircraft will be substantially bigger. We will be able to offer more seats, in ever greater comfort, without depending so much on frequency increases."
He concluded: "The A380 will give us some of the lowest seat costs in the industry. It is an essential solution at slot-constrained airports. It will be an impressive people carrier, while offering more, not less, passenger comfort and amenities. We are striving to make the flying experience enjoyable again, and the A380 will be a great tool in support of this goal."
Giant plane a testimony to 'old Europe' By Jorn Madslien BBC News business reporter in Toulouse, France
At last the curtains have been raised to reveal the giant Airbus A380 aircraft, a plane that promises to revolutionise air travel and help contribute to a doubling or perhaps even trebling of the number of people flying over the next two decades. The historic moment was marked with a rather grand ceremony at Airbus headquarters near Toulouse.
It was reminiscent of opening ceremonies for Olympic Games, complete with dancers resembling angels, floating through blue smoke clouds; towering over them a tall, god-like figure, exhorting the audience to "remind yourself that everything is possible".
And then there were the four dancers representing the four European nations that are backing the A380 project, each of them displaying the names of some of their greatest creative minds: Einstein, Goethe, Goya, Gaudi, Victor Hugo, Shakespeare and the Beatles.
But this was more than just brilliance by association: "It is a truly magnificent human endeavour," declared France's President Jacques Chirac.
With an 80-metre wing span, the A380 is the largest civilian aircraft ever built. "Now we see this final product and we are amazed," said UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. "It is simply stunning."
Old Europe strikes back
For Airbus chief executive Noel Forgeard it was a moment to behold, and not to be modest: "Under the name Airbus, Europe has written one of its most beautiful pages of its history."
High-level corporate battles - fought both internally among Airbus executives vying for position and externally against competitor Boeing - would have to wait for another day.
And yet, the trade spat between the European Union and the United States did rear its ugly head.
The US insists the repayable launch aid stumped up by Airbus's four backers - France, Germany, the UK and Spain - is an illegal subsidy. The Europeans complain about Washington's payments to Boeing.
For German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Tuesday's ceremony was too good an opportunity to miss for a slight dig at the US.
"There is the tradition of good old Europe that has made this possible," he said defiantly, sounding almost triumphant as he deliberately redefined the phrase previously used by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
And Mr Schroeder went further, making it clear that Europe would continue backing Airbus, within the framework of international trade rules.
"We have done that in the past, we are doing it now, and we will do so in the future," he said.
Backslapping executives
But the endorsements by the four heads of government and state were not the only reasons why Mr Forgeard was happy.
He was also joined by the heads of the 14 airlines that have placed firm orders for the A380.
Flanked by some of the world's most powerful air industry chief executives, there was no end to the mutual backslapping.
"We shall make a family photo," Mr Forgeard declared as he lined up for the unique picture. "Something like this will never happen again."
Each and everyone of the executives was keen to make his mark on this extraordinary day.
Predictably, Virgin Atlantic chairman Sir Richard Branson, the only one of them not wearing a tie, outdid them all with the most outlandish performance.
Passengers on Virgin's A380s, he declared, would be able to go to the gym or use the aeroplane's beauty parlour. There would be large bars, a casino and even a few double-beds, he said, quipping about there being "two ways of getting lucky" on a Virgin A380 flight.
Lufthansa's chief executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber was more sober in his praise for the aircraft, insisting its arrival would be good news for Lufthansa's customers, its shareholders and the environment.
Jolly green giant
Indeed, the A380 aircraft was widely hailed as an environmentally friendly aircraft.
Airbus says the aeroplane burns 12% less fuel than its competitor, the Boeing 747, largely due to its wing design and its use of lightweight composite materials.
Again the politicians were prepared to stick their neck to back the Airbus promise.
"The A380 is the only commercial plane designed from the outset to be environmentally friendly", said Mr Blair. "It consumes less than three litres of fuel per passengers over 100km, a rate comparable to a modern diesel car."
The A380 is also supposed to be a quiet aircraft, which will meet ever tougher noise pollution requirements.
"London Heathrow has the most stringent noise regulation in the world," said Singapore Airlines chief executive Chew Choon Seng. "This aircraft is able to meet those requirements."
With all the hype, though, it is easy to forget that the politicians and chief executives are talking about a prototype aircraft.
The A380 is a plane that has never left the runway. Its first flight is due to take place this spring, and it should go into commercial service in 2006.
The new Airbus is a big plane; but big questions about its future have not yet been answered.
AR1 Price at posting:
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